Illustration by @kyinskies

By Andi Astre
@mystic_sandwich

We launch into 2018 with a potent Full Moon in Cancer on the eve of January 1st. Work-life balance is highlighted, with the moon in home-loving Cancer and the sun (as well as Venus, Saturn, and Pluto) in go-getter Capricorn. Work with this energy by seeking the ways in which these areas nourish each other. Time spent cozy at home with your closest peeps can fuel your career goals and propel you toward your purpose. The rest of January sees a continuation of Capricornian energy, helping us to get organized, find discipline, manifest our purpose, and contribute our unique gifts to the world.

Aries

2018 begins with a great deal of energy in your house of career. Not necessarily how you make money, this area concerns your purpose: how you as a unique soul contribute to society. You will find a natural impetus to invest your time into your calling, to get organized, and solidify a long term plan. Attending to your home life is equally important as it offers balance and a foundation from which you may offer your gifts to the world.

Taurus

What do you believe? What is your worldview? The focus in January is clarifying for yourself your own personal philosophy. Far from frivolous, the way in which we understand the world affects everything else–how we parse information, what we consider important, how we respond to life’s events, how we interpret what happens to us, and therefore how we feel and experience the world. This is the time to study, learn, discuss, travel, sign up for courses, or plan trips and adventures–as these are all means to develop and refine your beliefs.

Gemini

In January the planets support you to find independence and interdependence, solitude and intimacy. To be close to another person requires that we also know how to be alone. Healthy relationships require that we don’t need the other. Without independence, there is manipulation, control, power struggles and deceit as we are forced to extract from others what can’t offer ourselves. Seek to become aware of the most subtle tendencies to control and manipulate so that you can free yourself of them and discover even more deeply fulfilling relationships.

Cancer

There is a focus on the self-other polarity in January, and throughout all of 2018 the planets wish to deliver lessons regarding relationships. Consider what you need and want from others in your life. How can you attend to your own needs as well as others’? Where are your boundaries? Be clear in expressing these. When things are difficult on the relationship front, consider what you can learn. Take the long view. What you learn about relationships now will serve you for many years to come.

Leo

January sets the tone for the rest of 2018–this month and this year, the skies urge you to attend to your health. If there is something you’ve been putting off, address it now. The planets have your back; discipline and focus with regards to your daily routine, to exercise, practices, and diet will be easier now. You will feel naturally inclined to pick up better habits and let go of habits that don’t serve you, so ride that wave while it’s here.

Virgo

Your creative self expression may feel somewhat blocked in 2018, but that blockage is there to show you something. How do you get in the way of your own creativity, pleasure, and enjoyment? How can you harness your sense of discipline even in the areas of life that seem not to require it–such as pleasure, play, and romance? In order to enjoy your life, you must carve out time for enjoyment. Similarly, creativity requires commitment. January provides the drive to commit to this area of your life. Dedicate yourself to a creative practice–be it living your life with a sense of spontaneity, cooking, painting, or any other means of expressing yourself. But don’t wait for inspiration–get to work first, and the inspiration will come.

Libra

There is a strong focus for you in January that continues throughout 2018, in the areas of family, and home. Commit yourself to understanding your roots, to bringing greater awareness to the ways in which your early childhood shaped who you are now. How did the support and love or the lack of it affect your current foundation? Are you reacting against or mimicking the relationship dynamics you witnessed when you were young? Do you feel at home in the world? Who do you consider to be your family? The work you do now to understand and clarify what you need to feel a supportive foundation will support you for years to come.

Scorpio

January initiates a series of lessons for you that will continue throughout the year in the domains of perception, the mind, and communication. When you encounters struggles in communication, miscommunications, misunderstandings, indirectness, lack of clarity–whether stemming from you or another–seek the deeper meaning. What are you being shown? When patterns reoccur, is there a reason you attract them to you? How can you communicate your needs and desires clearly and directly? How can you listen to others without expectations and assumptions getting in the way?

Sagittarius

January offers you insight into your self worth, your values, and how you manage your resources. Examine the connections between these areas. Do you feel deserving of wealth? Do you value and respect your yourself? How do you allow others to treat you? Do you see yourself as an equal? How you can offer yourself the love and care required to heal the pain of feeling undeserving? The work you do to affirm your value will enable greater abundance, and healthy intimacy.

Capricorn

There is a lot of activity in your sign during January, initiating new beginnings for you this month and this year. Harness this influx of Capricornian energy to assert yourself, define yourself, and clarify your identity. If aspects of your self identity are out of date, let go of who you were so you can be more of who you are. Stop telling the tired old stories that no longer serve that hold you to some 2 dimensional simulacrum of yourself. Be intentional in the stories you choose tell and define yourself by.

Aquarius

The Sun and Venus in Capricorn in January make more apparent a transformation you are going through that will continue for the next few years. There is a great deal of activity in your twelfth house of the unconscious, stirring the depths of your mind, unleashing forces that were hidden in the depths, bringing to the surface what had been repressed or suppressed or simply unseen. If you experience difficulty, see it as an opportunity to address patterns that have been with you all along–they are just more apparent now. Take this opportunity to get to know yourself better, to witness and perhaps release painful memories and means of coping that no longer serve you.

Pisces

January presents an opportunity for you to make your presence felt within your community and social networks. Venus in this area offers you a gentle and harmonious touch when relating to others. And Saturn here means you have the potential to form long term partnerships and commitments, to lay the groundwork for effective group projects, to find your place within groups and organizations. Consider the future. Where would you like to be three years from now, when Saturn is ready to leave this area of your chart?

Andi Astre is an astrologer, writer, and yoga teacher based in Vancouver BC. Her offerings include private readings, event readings, workshops, and yoga classes. She’s passionate about using yoga as a tool to understand astrology in a deeper, more embodied way. Currently she’s studying Evolutionary Astrology in the tradition of Jeffrey Wolf Green. For more information, see her website,www.mysticsandwich.com/.